Who inspired me?

I was inspired by so many people in my life- I am super lucky.

At school it was my physics and chemistry teachers, who were both very clever. My physics teacher (Dr. Walgate) was a doctor of physics (which I’ll become in a few months!) and she had done lots of research into the solar system. My chemistry teacher (Mr. Hearn) was still doing research whilst we were at school! I still meet them regularly, even though I left school nearly 10 years ago!

My parents are both very inspirational. They are both doctors. My dad is a brain doctor, and he is the only one of his type in the hospital he works. It means he has to see 60 patients a day, which is crazy. My mum is a psychiatrist, which means she talks to people who have mental conditions and depression. She is also a scientist, and writes lots of scientific articles. She is also an amazing mother, and has looked after me more than anyone in the world. When I was growing up she was always there for me, to bring in homework I left at home (even if it meant her leaving work to go home home then come to my school!) or come back from big work meetings in different countries. Once she only stayed in Canada for 12 hours because she wanted to see me and my brother so much!

My best friend in the lab is a man called Sebastian Wood. We still speak everyday, about our experiments and our new lab partners. He was doing his PhD when I started, and he taught my everything I know. He is so cool and so clever and helps me with difficult science questions or how to set up pieces of kit. Once he talked me through how to do a tricky measurement over the phone, because he was at his new job in the National Physics Laboratory. We used to go on adventures around South Kensington, where my university is, and buy coffee and cakes and croissants.

There are two other very important people for me: my best friend from school, Ben, who makes music under the name of ‘Fryars’ and another boy called Dan who is an actor. Ben has travelled the world writing music for famous pop stars. He lived with Lily Allen for 3 months in LA! Dan is a very very good actor, who has made lots of movies and also performed on stage. They are both so brilliant and exciting- they remind me how important creativity is in life. That helps for experimental design too!